The convergence of linear and digital media presents both opportunities and challenges for traditional TV and radio broadcasters. Robust linear and digital systems that work well together are essential to effectively fulfill converged ad campaigns and monetize converged media. Tools offer a range of features designed to streamline workflows, improve targeting precision, and deliver seamless cross-platform experiences for advertisers and audiences alike.

The State of Convergence Today

Convergence doesn’t mean linear is going away, nor does it mean all linear operations and teams are merging with digital operations and teams. Instead, organizations are finding ways to increase revenue by complementing their linear OTA broadcast with an over-the-top (OTT) stream. Digital inventory has more value due to better targeting and addressability, while linear OTA spots can magnify digital ads by increasing retention, resulting in more effective campaigns. The challenge for media organizations is finding multi-platform media tools that allow for the selling, ordering, trafficking, and invoicing of digital alongside linear​.

Important Features to Look for in Multi-Platform Media Tools

In today’s converged media landscape, publishers need the ability to sell advertising as a converged campaign, then execute linear and digital individually across the appropriate order management systems, then measure performance and invoice in a converged fashion.

Rather than replacing existing systems, the individual components will remain as part of the tech stack but it’s critical that they’re opened up through APIs and integrations, so they can work together to allow publishers to sell and execute in a converged way.

Unified Inventory Management: Converged ad sales tools enable broadcasters to consolidate inventory across linear and digital channels, facilitating efficient campaign planning, proposal generation, and order fulfillment. A centralized inventory management system allows broadcasters to optimize ad placements, minimize conflicts, and maximize revenue by leveraging ad availability across all platforms.

Audience Targeting Capabilities: Advanced targeting capabilities are crucial for cross-media campaigns, allowing advertisers to reach specific audience segments across linear television and digital platforms. Converged ad sales tools leverage data analytics and audience insights across multiple audience data services to facilitate targeting based on demographics, interests, and behavioral patterns, enhancing the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.

Cross-Platform Optimization: Converged ad sales tools enable seamless coordination between linear and digital advertising efforts to ensure consistent brand messaging and optimal campaign performance. Broadcasters can synchronize ad placements, creative assets, and scheduling across different platforms, allowing advertisers to create cohesive brand experiences across the entire media ecosystem.

Real-Time Reporting and Analytics: Real-time reporting and analytics are essential for monitoring campaign performance, tracking key metrics, and optimizing ad strategies in flight. Converged ad sales tools provide broadcasters with comprehensive analytics dashboards, enabling them to gain valuable insights into audience engagement, ad impressions, conversion rates, and ROI across linear and digital channels.

Flexible Pricing and Packaging: Converged ad sales tools offer flexible pricing and packaging options for cross-media campaigns to maximize revenue opportunities while accommodating the needs of outcome-focused advertisers. Broadcasters can identify the most profitable ways to bundle inventory, creating customized ad packages tailored to specific advertiser objectives that incorporate a mix of linear and digital inventory to deliver maximum value and impact.

Integration with Third-Party Platforms: Seamless integration with third-party platforms is essential for extending workflows across the entire sales cycle, from proposal to payment. Converged ad sales tools facilitate interoperability with existing systems, including linear servers, digital order management systems, digital ad servers, rate card builders, analytics, CRM systems, and audience data providers. The result is a cohesive multi-media ecosystem that centralizes sales operations and eliminates redundancies.

Campaign Optimization and Attribution: Continuous optimization and accurate attribution are critical for maximizing the effectiveness of cross-media campaigns and driving tangible results for advertisers. Converged ad sales tools leverage predictive analytics to optimize campaign delivery, allocate resources efficiently, and attribute conversions accurately across linear and digital touchpoints.

The Role of Linear and Digital Order Management Systems (OMS)

A digital OMS unifies digital ad sales, operations, execution, and finance across multiple properties and ad servers. When integrated with your CRM systems, ad servers, third-party performance providers, and finance systems, a digital OMS will extend and streamline workflows.

Integrate your converged sales tools with your digital and linear Order Management Systems for cross-platform planning and execution. Cross-media campaigns planned in converged sales tools are sent to your:

• Digital OMS for digital execution
• Traffic system for linear execution, as well as to consolidate linear and digital orders on a single invoice

You can also Integrate your digital OMS with business intelligence tools for consolidated performance and revenue reporting, and with your finance system to automate A/R processes.

AI – The Elephant in the Room

Aritificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize the way media companies strategize and execute their advertising sales and trafficking processes, reducing the cognitive load on users so they can focus on the things that generate revenue. Machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), and retrieval augmented generation (RAG) can play a crucial role in optimizing advertising sales and trafficking.

Digital platforms including Google and Meta will play a significant role in defining audiences with their new AI measurement tools. Google’s Performance Max uses Google AI to put ads in front of the right customers, at the right time, using user-provided marketing goals, ad assets, and budget. Meta’s Advantage+ products leverage machine learning to help advertisers reach valuable audiences with less set up time and greater efficiency.

AI tools can leverage the same techniques for linear and digital media but provide the most value for broadcasters when trained on a system of record, such as WideOrbit. When trained on data housed in a media organization’s system of record, AI can help streamline sales processes by:

• Analyzing historical data, consumer behavior patterns, and market trends to help predict campaign outcomes and tailor proposals
• Analyzing real-time supply and demand dynamics to facilitate pricing optimization

AI can also provide advanced audience segmentation and targeting strategies, analyzing demographic data, viewing patterns, etc., to precisely identify relevant audience segments and offer ad placements that meet advertiser needs. By leveraging NLP to analyze content, media companies can offer contextual targeting.

AI can also be used to optimize trafficking processes, enabling real-time ad serving, optimization, and performance tracking. By continuously analyzing campaign performance metrics, media companies can optimize ad delivery and placement in real time.

Monetize Linear And Digital Convergence with WideOrbit

AI-Assisted Planning

WO Q brings AI to WideOrbit software with a chat-based interface that leverages a Large Language Model (LLM) trained on language specific to the media industry. Building context through user prompts combined with previous campaign data (Retrieval Augmented Generation), WO Q leverages Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to automatically create optimized advertising proposals. 

Converged Selling

WO Fusion makes it easy to price, plan, and sell any media type, with multiple audience measurement data sources that provide a unified view of converged audience engagement. 

Digital Order Management

WO Digital Hub unifies digital ad sales, operations, execution, and finance across multiple properties and ad servers, automating workflows to increase efficiency and drive revenue growth.

Linear Order Management and Converged Invoicing

WO Traffic, WO Network, and WO Omni unify linear ad operations, execution, and finance into a single system of record, complete with converged billing.

Services from Industry Experts

WideOrbit Professional Services– Our team leverages invaluable knowledge and experience in the delivery of a variety of engagements across all customer segments, from quick system changes to intricate integrations involving multiple WideOrbit products.

WideOrbit Managed Services– WideOrbit managed services allow you to improve the efficiency of your WideOrbit products by leveraging our team’s experience. Services address areas such as data management and integrity, operational workflows, and configuration updates.

To learn more about WideOrbit’s multi-platform media tools, please contact us.

This blog post is based on WideOrbit’s session at 2024 Virtual Forward Sales Conference, Efficiency Drives Converged Linear + Digital Revenue, presented by Jason Hancock, Product Strategy Manager, and Eric Sack, VP, Strategic Solutions.

View the session video on demand here.